republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/153/sb-238.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24, TITLE 29, AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR CHIROPRACTIC THERAPY AND PHYSICAL THERAPY.	In Delaware, all individual health insurance policies, all group and blanket health insurance policies, the State employee health insurance plan, and Medicaid are required to cover chiropractic and physical therapy treatment for chronic back pain without annual or lifetime numerical limits on physical therapy or chiropractic care visits. To evaluate the effectiveness of this coverage requirement, the Patient Centered Care Subcommittee of the Addiction Action Committee, under the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, sent a survey to chiropractic therapy and physical therapy providers in Delaware. Although the survey showed that the coverage requirement has improved treatment of chronic pain patients, the survey also showed that the coverage requirement provides supportive chronic pain treatment for only the thoracic region of the spine, which is the middle of the spine from the base of the neck to the bottom of the ribs, and the lumbar region of the spine, which is the lower back. The treatment of chronic pain through chiropractic supportive care, physical therapy, or both, can prevent a patient from requiring opioid pain medications or more expensive treatments, but excluding vital areas of the spine and body from coverage may limit the effectiveness of chiropractic therapy and physical therapy treatment and limits a chronic pain patient’s potential for improvement.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	153	SB 238	Delaware SB 238 (153)	bill		enacted	Brian Pettyjohn Bryan Townsend Claire Snyder-Hall Dave G. Lawson David L. Wilson David P. Sokola Eric Morrison Franklin D. Cooke John "Jack" Walsh Laura V. Sturgeon Lyndon D. Yearick Mara Gorman Marie Pinkney Melanie Ross Levin Ray Seigfried Russell Huxtable Sarah McBride Stell Parker Selby William Bush	2	13	3	2026-02-19	2026-04-28	openstates	ocd-bill/6fa6a87e-87d1-4992-b8e2-331b38091b42	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142863	6622737bc102302d45373659457be7b881ad28ab05e0c6fe46c16deca4df9b77	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware SB 238 (153) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24, TITLE 29, AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR CHIROPRACTIC THERAPY AND PHYSICAL THERAPY.

In Delaware, all individual health insurance policies, all group and blanket health insurance policies, the State employee health insurance plan, and Medicaid are required to cover chiropractic and physical therapy treatment for chronic back pain without annual or lifetime numerical limits on physical therapy or chiropractic care visits. To evaluate the effectiveness of this coverage requirement, the Patient Centered Care Subcommittee of the Addiction Action Committee, under the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, sent a survey to chiropractic therapy and physical therapy providers in Delaware. Although the survey showed that the coverage requirement has improved treatment of chronic pain patients, the survey also showed that the coverage requirement provides supportive chronic pain treatment for only the thoracic region of the spine, which is the middle of the spine from the base of the neck to the bottom of the ribs, and the lumbar region of the spine, which is the lower back. The treatment of chronic pain through chiropractic supportive care, physical therapy, or both, can prevent a patient from requiring opioid pain medications or more expensive treatments, but excluding vital areas of the spine and body from coverage may limit the effectiveness of chiropractic therapy and physical therapy treatment and limits a chronic pain patient’s potential for improvement.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. HA 1 to SB 238 (committee substitute) — source
2. SA 1 to SB 238 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 16–0 (pass) · upper
• SM — 20–0 (pass) · upper
• SM — 33–3 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
• Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
• Claire Snyder-Hall — primary (person)
• Dave G. Lawson — primary (person)
• David L. Wilson — primary (person)
• David P. Sokola — primary (person)
• Eric Morrison — primary (person)
• Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
• John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
• Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
• Lyndon D. Yearick — primary (person)
• Mara Gorman — primary (person)
• Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
• Melanie Ross Levin — primary (person)
• Ray Seigfried — primary (person)
• Russell Huxtable — primary (person)
• Sarah McBride — primary (person)
• Stell Parker Selby — primary (person)
• William Bush — primary (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2026-02-19 Introduced and Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2026-03-11 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 7 Favorable, 1 On Its Merits committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2026-03-11 Amendment SA 1 to SB 238 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2026-03-26 Amendment SA 1 to SB 238 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT amendment-passage
• 2026-03-26 Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT passage
• 2026-04-09 Assigned to Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2026-04-21 Reported Out of Committee (Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce) in House with 12 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2026-04-23 Amendment HA 1 to SB 238 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2026-04-23 Amendment HA 1 to SB 238 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2026-04-23 Passed By House. Votes: 33 YES 3 NO 5 ABSENT passage
• 2026-04-23 Suspension of Rules in Senate
• 2026-04-23 Passed By Senate. Votes: 16 YES 5 ABSENT passage
• 2026-04-28 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/6fa6a87e-87d1-4992-b8e2-331b38091b42. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).